Techmeme River
Freitag, 16. Januar 2026
18:00
Sources: Anchorage Digital, the first federally chartered US digital asset bank, is seeking to raise $200M to $400M, ahead of a possible IPO in 2027
Bloomberg
17:10
Sources: Google is in talks with broadband operator Radiate to set up a JV to hold their fiber assets; Stonepeak Partners will invest $1B to support the deal
Bloomberg
16:35
Claude Code represents a “ChatGPT moment repeated” and an “extinction-level event” for horizontal software companies focused on human-oriented consumption
Fabricated Knowledge
16:10
Sources: ElevenLabs seeks to raise hundreds of millions at a valuation of $11B, four months after a secondary share sale that valued it at $6.6B
Financial Times
15:45
Some top California Democrats join Governor Gavin Newsom in opposing a ballot initiative led by a healthcare union seeking a one-time 5% tax on $1B+ in assets
Bloomberg
15:05
FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson says the agency is examining Big Tech's acqui-hires to make sure “they are not an attempt to get around” its merger review process
Bloomberg
14:35
TikTok has launched a standalone micro drama app, PineDrama, in the US and Brazil, offering vertical serialized shows for free without ads or paywalls for now
Business Insider
13:24
OpenAI expands its $8/month ChatGPT Go subscription tier to the US and the rest of the world, after previously launching it in India and some other countries
The Verge
13:20
OpenAI will match ads to conversation topics using some personalization data, but says it will not sell user data or expose user conversations to advertisers
Wired
13:13
OpenAI plans to test ads below ChatGPT replies for users of free and Go tiers in the US; source: OpenAI expects to make “low billions” from ads in 2026
Financial Times
12:35
Vietnam's military-run telecom company Viettel begins construction of the country's first chip plant, with trial production expected to start by late 2027
Reuters
11:40
Istanbul-based TaleMonster Games, the studio behind the puzzle game Match Valley, raised a $30M Series A led by Arcadia Gaming Partners and a16z
Tech.eu
11:00
Analysis: Colossus 2, one of the world's largest AI datacenters, uses roughly the same water resources required to supply 2.5 typical In-N-Out Burger locations
SemiAnalysis
10:40
Unsealed docs from Elon Musk's OpenAI lawsuit, set for a jury trial on April 27: Sutskever's concerns about treating open-source AI as a “side show”, and more
Sources
10:30
Unsealed docs from Elon Musk's OpenAI lawsuit, set for a jury trial on April 27: Sutskever's concerns about treating open-source AI as a “side show”, and more
The Verge
09:50
DoorDash Chief Revenue Officer Lee Brown is departing the delivery app company after less than six months; long-term VP Shanna Prevé will succeed Brown as CRO
Bloomberg
09:15
ClickHouse, a Snowflake challenger that offers an OLAP database management system, raised $400M led by Dragoneer at a $15B valuation, up from $6.35B in May 2025
Bloomberg
07:40
Source: Italian police searched the offices of the country's data protection agency, one of the EU's most proactive regulators, as part of a corruption probe
Reuters
07:10
Q&A with Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos about the $83B WBD bid, Trump's involvement in the deal, maintaining a 45-day theatrical window for WBD releases, and more
New York Times
06:30
Cloudflare acquires AI data marketplace Human Native for an undisclosed sum to help it develop a system where AI developers pay creators for training content
CNBC
06:10
Italy's competition watchdog opens two investigations into Microsoft's Activision Blizzard over sales practices the regulator calls “misleading and aggressive”
Reuters
06:00
TikTok says it will roll out new age detection tech, which analyzes profile information to predict whether a user is under 13, across Europe in the coming weeks
Reuters
01:40
A profile of Wikipedia as it faces myriad challenges, including attacks from Elon Musk and the far right, reduced traffic due to AI, and a legal battle in India
Financial Times
00:55
Sources: Chinese AI companies seek to rent compute in Southeast Asia and the Middle East for Nvidia Rubin access, as Zhipu and Alibaba warn of a widening US gap
Wall Street Journal
00:05
Australia's eSafety Commissioner reports social media platforms “removed access” to ~4.7M accounts under its ban for under-16s, which took effect in December
New York Times
Donnerstag, 15. Januar 2026
23:45
SiFive says it will integrate Nvidia's NVLink Fusion with its RISC-V processor IP platforms, letting SiFive silicon communicate with Nvidia's and partner chips
Forbes
23:25
California regulators unanimously approved Verizon's nearly $10B Frontier acquisition; deliberations included Verizon committing to the state's DEI requirements
TheDesk.net
23:05
Meta says it will discontinue Workrooms, its VR space for workers, on February 16, and stop selling Quests and Horizon services to businesses from February 20
The Verge
22:30
Trump and Northeastern state governors ask grid operator PJM to hold an auction for tech companies to fund new power plants, amid the AI boom
Bloomberg
21:25
YouTube revises its policy to allow full monetization of nongraphic videos on sensitive issues, like abortion, self-harm, suicide, and domestic and sexual abuse
Tubefilter
20:30
Sources: Thinking Machines lacks a clear product or business strategy and has been struggling over the past couple of months to raise a new round of financing
Sources
20:00
Total global VC funding invested in fintech startups hit $51.8B in 2025, up 27% YoY and above pre-pandemic totals, but much lower than 2021's peak of $141.6B
Crunchbase News
19:15
Ashley St. Clair, the mother of one of Elon Musk's children, sues xAI, alleging Grok refused to stop making sexualized deepfakes of her, amid custody disputes
New York Post
18:40
As Meta cuts employees from its Supernatural VR fitness service and shifts resources away, users mourn the community formed around the platform and its coaches
Wired
17:50
Google agrees to pay $8.25M to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging its AdMob SDK illegally collected data from devices used by children under the age of 13
The Record
16:26
Source: at least two more Thinking Machines employees are set to join OpenAI soon; some AI researchers say they are exhausted by the industry's constant drama
Wired
16:10
Replit launches Mobile Apps on Replit, which lets creators and small-business owners vibe code Android and iOS apps and monetize them via a Stripe integration
CNBC
15:40
Sources: Replit is in advanced discussions to raise a new round of funding that would roughly triple its valuation to $9B; source: the round is for ~$400M
Bloomberg
15:25
Mytra, which is building autonomous robots for warehouses that can move loads up to 3,000 pounds, raised a $120M Series C led by Avenir Growth
Fortune
14:55
Andrea Vallone, who left OpenAI in December after serving as its Head of Model Policy, joins Anthropic's alignment team, which tries to understand AI model risk
The Verge
14:30
The US says that Taiwanese companies will invest $250B+ in chip production capacity in the US as part of a trade deal, and Taiwan will guarantee $250B in credit
CNBC
13:35
Symbolic.ai, founded by ex-eBay CEO Devin Wenig and Ars Technica co-founder Jon Stokes, partners with News Corp to offer AI tools to WSJ, Barron's, and others
Inc
12:55
Equal1, which was spun out from University College Dublin, raised $60M to deploy its new quantum server for data centers, bringing its total funding to $85M
The Irish Times
12:20
Letter: a top House Republican warns severe DRAM and HBM3E supply shortages will constrain H200 export licenses; Nvidia says it “can serve all approved” orders
Bloomberg
12:10
Google releases TranslateGemma, a suite of Gemma 3-based open translation models available in 4B-, 12B-, and 27B-parameter sizes, with support for 55 languages
The Keyword
12:05
X revises its developer API policies to “no longer allow apps that reward users for posting on X (aka 'infofi')”, amid a backlash about increasing AI slop on X
Decrypt
11:55
Sources: Apple now needs to fight for TSMC production capacity amid the AI boom; Nvidia was likely TSMC's top customer in at least one or two quarters in 2025
Culpium
11:40
OpenAI says it issued a request for proposals to US-based hardware manufacturers as it seeks to push into consumer devices, robotics, and cloud data centers
Bloomberg
11:20
Amazon files an objection to Saks Global's bankruptcy financing plan, and says its $475M investment in the department store is now effectively “worthless”
CNBC
10:50
Brain-computer interface startup Merge Labs, which Sam Altman co-founded, raised a $252M seed from OpenAI, Bain Capital, Gabe Newell, and others
Bloomberg
09:25
AI video startup Higgsfield raised an $80M Series A extension from Accel and others at a $1.3B+ valuation, and says it hit a $200M annualized revenue run rate
Reuters
09:15
Boston-based Tulip, which offers an AI-powered frontline operations platform used by 60K workers, raised a $120M Series D led by Mitsubishi at a $1.3B valuation
Forbes
08:50
Researchers detail WhisperPair, vulnerabilities in Google's Fast Pair protocol affecting 17 audio device models from 10 brands; Google rolled out updates
Wired
08:35
BlackRock raises $12.5B as part of its Microsoft partnership to bankroll data centers and energy infrastructure, bringing it closer to its $30B goal from 2024
Bloomberg
08:25
Bitmine, the largest corporate holder of ether, invests $200M in MrBeast's Beast Industries, set to close on January 19; Bitmine holds 4M+ ETH valued at ~$13.6B
CoinDesk
08:05
India's Supreme Court rules Tiger Global's $1.6B Flipkart stake sale to Walmart in 2018 is subject to taxes, a ruling that will shape future cross-border deals
Reuters
07:40
Anthropic researchers say rich countries' higher AI adoption risks deepening economic disparities and widening living standard gaps, assuming productivity gains
Financial Times
07:25
AWS signs a two-year supply deal with Rio Tinto to access its Arizona copper mine, the US' first new source in 10+ years, as AI data centers create huge demand
Wall Street Journal
07:05
Spotify plans to raise its Premium subscription by $1 to $12.99/month in the US, its first US price hike since July 2024, and increase it in Estonia and Latvia
Bloomberg
07:00
Sources: the US cyberattack during the Maduro mission plunged Caracas into darkness and disrupted its air defense radar, demonstrating US offensive capabilities
New York Times
06:45
Wikimedia celebrates Wikipedia's 25th anniversary, marking its growth from 100 pages to 65M+ articles with nearly 15B monthly views, and releases a docuseries
The Verge
06:30
Berlin-based Parloa, which develops AI customer service agents for Booking.com and others, raised $350M at a $3B valuation, taking its total funding to $560M+
Financial Times
06:20
Polymarket and Kalshi count Donald Trump Jr. as an adviser, and Trump Media plans to launch Truth Predict, raising ethical questions during Trump's second term
New York Times
06:10
Self-help gurus like Tony Robbins, Gabby Bernstein, and Matthew Hussey are charging up to $99 per month to access AI chatbots that promise personalized advice
Wall Street Journal
06:01
ASML hits a $500B+ market cap for the first time, the third European company to reach the milestone, after TSMC reported strong earnings; ASML is up 18% YTD
Bloomberg
05:50
WitnessAI, whose service helps organizations govern and protect their AI operations, raised $58M led by Sound Ventures, taking its total funding to $85M+
SecurityWeek
05:40
The Wikimedia Foundation says Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, Perplexity, and Mistral joined Wikimedia Enterprise to get “tuned” API access; Google is already a member
The Verge
05:30
Yield Sec: the top 10 pirate sports streaming sites in the UK, largely funded by ads from unlicensed gambling operators, had 1.6B views in H1 2025, up 33% YoY
Bloomberg
05:15
South Korea drops Naver's and NCSoft's teams from its competition to develop its first sovereign AI model, as LG's, SK Telecom's, and Upstage's teams advance
Bloomberg
05:00
AWS launches European Sovereign Cloud, creating a new parent company for its sovereign cloud that will be locally controlled in the EU and run by EU citizens
CNBC
04:50
TSMC projects $52B to $56B in 2026 capital spending, up 25%+ from 2025, and forecasts close to 30% YoY revenue growth in 2026, both above analyst estimates
Bloomberg
04:40
Scientists say that AI has become a powerful and rapidly improving research tool, and that whether it is generating ideas on its own is, for now, a moot point
New York Times
04:30
Chinese chipmaker SpacemiT, whose RISC-V-based K1 chip is used in industrial systems, robotics, edge computing, and AI devices, raised an ~$86M Series B
Bloomberg
02:30
Appfigures: global consumer mobile app spending on Apple's App Store and Google Play rose 21.6% YoY to $155.8B in 2025, but app downloads dropped 2.7% to 106.9B
TechCrunch
02:20
Microsoft agrees to buy a record 2.85M soil carbon credits from Indigo Carbon linked to regenerative US agriculture; a source values the deal at $171M to $228M
Reuters
02:05
Hong Kong-based WeLab, which runs digital banks WeLab in Hong Kong and Saqu in Indonesia, raised $220M in equity and debt from HSBC, Prudential HK, and others
Bloomberg
01:55
Blockchain-based lender Figure unveils the On-Chain Public Equity Network to issue, trade, and lend stocks natively on a blockchain, not as tokenized replicas
The Block
01:40
Source: Apple's Gemini deal is a cloud contract where it pays Google several billion dollars; a source says OpenAI declined to be Apple's custom model provider
Financial Times
01:10
OpenAI quietly rolls out ChatGPT Translate, a standalone website that supports plain text translations across 50+ languages and features prompt customization
Android Authority
01:05
TSMC reports Q4 net profit up 35% YoY to a record ~$16B, above $15.17B est., as it benefited from surging demand for AI chips and hit $100B in 2025 revenue
Reuters
00:15
Sources: China is drafting Nvidia H200 purchase rules, limiting how many chips local companies can buy and requiring them to justify the need, instead of a ban
Nikkei Asia
00:05
A source close to Thinking Machines Lab alleges ex-CTO Barret Zoph, who is returning to OpenAI, had shared confidential company information with competitors
Wired
00:00
GlobalFoundries agrees to acquire Synopsys' ARC processor IP business, which includes ARC-V (RISC-V) and ARC CPU IP, and integrate it into its MIPS business
EE Times
Mittwoch, 14. Januar 2026
23:35
Bengaluru-based edtech startup Emversity raised a $30M Series A led by Premji Invest, sources say at a ~$120M post-money valuation, up from ~$60M in April 2025
TechCrunch
23:20
Alibaba links Qwen to its online shopping and travel services, including Taobao, Alipay, Fliggy, and Amap, aiming to build a one-stop AI app for its 100M users
Bloomberg
21:45
CoinDesk data: Binance's spot crypto trading market share fell to 25% in December 2025, its lowest since January 2021, and it is losing ground in derivatives
Bloomberg
20:40
Project Eleven, which builds tools to prepare blockchains for post-quantum threats, raised a $20M Series A led by Castle Island at a $120M post-money valuation
The Block
19:50
Thinking Machines Lab parts ways with CTO Barret Zoph, with Soumith Chintala taking over the role; sources say the termination is due to “unethical conduct”
@kyliebytes
19:40
Fidji Simo says Barret Zoph, Luke Metz, and Sam Schoenholz have returned to OpenAI from Thinking Machines Lab and “this has been in the works for several weeks”
@fidjissimo
19:00
X updates Grok to prevent the “editing of images of real people in revealing clothing such as bikinis” and geoblocks it for all users “where it's illegal”
Engadget
18:25
Coinbase pulls support from the US Senate's crypto market structure bill ahead of a key vote; CEO Brian Armstrong says there are “too many issues” with the bill
CoinDesk
17:00
YouTube now lets parents set time limits on their kids' YouTube Shorts feed, ranging from 15 minutes to two hours; an option for zero minutes is coming soon
The Verge
16:20
President Trump signs an order to impose a 25% tariff on chips “transshipped through the US to other foreign countries”, as part of the Nvidia H200 export deal
Bloomberg
16:05
UK PM Keir Starmer says X indicated to government officials it was acting to comply with UK laws by restricting the generation of nonconsensual sexual images
Financial Times
15:50
Novee, which utilizes proprietary AI models to perform automated penetration testing, emerges from stealth with a $43M Series A and an $8.5M seed
Axios
15:35
PJM trims summer 2027 peak demand forecast to ~160 GW from ~164 GW because some projects, including data centers, lack firm service or construction commitments
Bloomberg
15:20
OpenAI strikes a multibillion-dollar, three-year deal to buy 750 MW of computing capacity from Cerebras, which Sam Altman has backed; sources: it's a $10B+ deal
Wall Street Journal
15:00
Bitchat, a P2P messaging app launched by Jack Dorsey, has emerged as a key lifeline for people in Uganda and Iran facing government-imposed internet shutdowns
Reuters
14:25
Digg, rebooted under original co-founder Kevin Rose and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, launches its public beta, after being open to 67K invite-only users
TechCrunch
13:50
2026 may be the year of the mega IPO, as sources say Anthropic, OpenAI, and SpaceX took early steps to go public, setting up a watershed moment for the AI boom
New York Times
13:30
Verizon fixes “an issue impacting wireless voice and data services” that caused 100K+ users to lose reception for 10+ hours on January 14 and gives a $20 credit
TechRadar
12:55
California AG Rob Bonta opens an investigation into xAI over the proliferation of nonconsensual, sexualized images generated by Grok, and urges xAI to act
Politico
12:45
Elon Musk claims he's “not aware of any naked underage images generated by Grok” and that Grok's operating principle is to “obey the laws of any given country”
Reuters
12:30
Elon Musk claims he's “not aware of any naked underage images generated by Grok” and that Grok's operating principle is to “obey the laws of any given country”
The Guardian
12:10
Depthfirst, which provides AI tools for codebase scanning, credential exposure protection, and threat monitoring, raised a $40M Series A led by Accel Partners
TechCrunch
11:15
Google launches Personal Intelligence, a Gemini feature that links to Gmail, Google Photos, Search, and YouTube history to tailor answers, for paid subscribers
ZDNET
11:00
Sources: the Trump administration is weighing a substantial shift in its cyberstrategy, including by enlisting private companies to assist with cyberattacks
New York Times
10:10
Dutch court hearing: Nexperia claims Chinese owner Wingtech pushed for tech transfers out of Europe and threatened execs; Wingtech attacks Nexperia's management
Bloomberg
09:20
Belgium-based Aikido Security, which offers automated security guardrails for developers, raised a $60M Series B led by DST Global at a $1B valuation
Reuters
09:10
Source: Microsoft has become one of Anthropic's top clients and was recently on pace to spend nearly $500M/year for Anthropic's AI to power Microsoft products
The Information
08:40
Tel Aviv- and Boston-based IO River, which helps companies manage multiple CDN and edge networks, raised a $20M Series A led by Venture Guides and New Era
Axios
08:26
UK police say they banned Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from a soccer match in 2025 after Copilot hallucinated a fake West Ham-Maccabi match in an intelligence report
The Verge
08:10
Pittsburgh-based Skild AI, which makes robotics foundation models, raised a $1.4B Series C at a $14B+ valuation, up from ~$4.5B in June 2025
Bloomberg
08:06
Airbnb hires Meta executive Ahmad Al-Dahle, who led the generative AI and Llama team after working at Apple, as its CTO, as it aims to add more AI to its app
Bloomberg
08:00
Polymarket is hosting a growing number of contracts tied to military conflicts, including China invading Taiwan; possible US strikes in Iran has $18M+ in trades
Bloomberg
07:30
Sources: McKinsey pilots an overhaul in how it recruits its next generation, asking candidates to use its AI tool Lilli to analyze a case study during a test
Financial Times
07:05
Alpaca, which builds software to let companies offer stocks, ETFs, and other financial instruments, raised a $150M Series D led by Drive at a $1.15B valuation
Fortune
06:55
Sources: Chinese chip designer Montage, a Shanghai-listed company valued at ~$22B, plans a Hong Kong IPO that could raise $900M+, backed by Alibaba and JPMorgan
Bloomberg
06:45
Sources: Chinese authorities told domestic companies to stop using cybersecurity software made by ~12 US and Israeli companies due to national security concerns
Reuters
06:30
How Ireland, an early data center winner, has missed out on much of the AI boom due to creaking infrastructure and a strained electricity grid stopping projects
Bloomberg
06:15
The IMF urges governments to help workers displaced by AI and says policymakers should redesign education so young people use AI “rather than compete with it”
Financial Times
06:01
China's market regulator says it is investigating Trip.com, the country's largest online travel agency, over alleged antitrust conduct, without offering details
Bloomberg
05:45
US Big Tech companies have been on an energy-related hiring spree; Workforce.ai says Microsoft has hired 570+ people with energy-related expertise since 2022
CNBC
05:30
UK satellite company Open Cosmos wins a highly contested Ka-band spectrum license, used for high-speed consumer internet, beating Peter Thiel-backed companies
Financial Times
04:55
In South Korea's competition to locally create an independent AI model, three of the five finalists used foreign open-source code, which they argue is practical
Wall Street Journal
04:35
Highlights from IEDM 2025: 3D NAND is suddenly relevant again, interconnect metals beyond copper are emerging, 2D materials that could replace silicon, and more
SemiAnalysis
04:05
The UK government drops plans for mandatory digital IDs to work in the country, marking a reversal from when the UK first announced the policy in September 2025
BBC
03:50
Q&A with IMG President Adam Kelly on streaming platforms' growing share of sports media rights, live sports as an antidote to AI content, monetization, and more
Financial Times
03:30
Q&A with Reid Hoffman on wanting Silicon Valley to speak out against the Trump administration, AI regulation, the role of AI in art and creativity, and more
Wired
03:15
Analysis: DeepSeek parent company High-Flyer posted an average return of 56.6% across its quant funds in 2025, which could boost the cash available for DeepSeek
Bloomberg
03:01
India lacks specific policies or zoning regulations for overseeing quick commerce dark stores, which HSBC projects will hit 5,000 to 5,500 by the end of FY2026
The Economic Times
02:50
Elon Musk says that Tesla will stop selling FSD after February 14 and will offer it only as a monthly subscription; FSD costs $8,000 upfront or $99 per month
Bloomberg
02:40
WithCoverage, which replaces traditional insurance brokers with its AI-based flat-fee risk management model, raised a $42M Series B led by Sequoia and Khosla
Axios
02:30
Sources: Chinese officials told customs agents this week that Nvidia H200s are barred from China and told local tech companies not to buy them unless necessary
Reuters
02:25
A look at a Myanmar online scam center that opened in 2024 with 3,500+ workers from nearly 30 countries and closed in November 2025 after rebels captured it
New York Times
02:20
The US urged UN members to take a tougher stance against North Korea IT worker scams and crypto thefts; an October 2025 report found 40+ countries were affected
The Record
01:55
Saudi Arabia's PIF transfers ~$12B worth of gaming company shares, including of Nintendo, to Savvy Games; PIF already transferred 11M Take-Two shares in 2025
Bloomberg
01:35
How smuggled Starlink receivers and customized software let some Iranians evade a near-total internet blackout as the regime brutally cracked down on protesters
Financial Times
01:25
Caterpillar hits a $300B market cap for the first time, driven by demand for its data center power generation equipment; CAT is up 12% in 2026 to a record ~$640
Bloomberg
01:10
Bandcamp bans music and audio “generated wholly or in substantial part by AI”, hoping to build trust with fans that the music they find “was created by humans”
WebProNews
00:45
Z.ai releases GLM-Image, an open-source AI model that it says is China's first state-of-the-art multimodal model to finish training using Huawei's Ascend chips
Bloomberg
00:40
Checkr, which does employee background checks, says its revenue grew 14% YoY to $800M+ in 2025, amid a flood of AI-generated CVs and fake financial documents
Forbes
Dienstag, 13. Januar 2026
23:20
Matthew McConaughey has secured eight USPTO trademarks of himself over the past several months to protect his likeness and voice from unauthorized AI use
Wall Street Journal
21:35
Survey: 41% of US teens aged 13 to 17 support banning middle and high school students from using phones in class, while 51% oppose it; 73% oppose a full-day ban
Pew Research Center
20:45
Sources: Apple and Qualcomm are scrambling to secure glass cloth fiber, used in chip substrates and PCBs, amid a surge in demand from AI giants like Nvidia
Nikkei Asia
20:15
Holistic Resilience, a US group that helps Iranians secure internet access, says SpaceX has waived Starlink subscription fees amid a days-long internet blackout
Bloomberg
19:20
Defense Unicorns, which provides open-source air-gapped software to the US DOD, raised a $136M Series B led by Bain Capital, taking its total valuation to $1B+
Reuters
18:45
A source details how Apple's Gemini deal works: new Siri features will launch in the spring and at WWDC, Apple can finetune Gemini, no Google branding, and more
The Information
18:35
Under new US licensing requirements, the Commerce Department says it will review exports of Nvidia's H200 and AMD's MI325X to China on a case-by-case basis
Bloomberg
18:20
Liftoff, which helps companies place ads in mobile apps, files for a US IPO, reporting a $25.6M net loss on $491.6M in revenue in the nine months up to Sept. 30
Bloomberg
18:05
Google releases MedGemma 1.5, offering improved medical imaging support, and MedASR, fine-tuned for medical dictation, both on Hugging Face and Vertex AI
Google Research
17:40
President Trump renominates Sean Plankey to be the next director of CISA, which hasn't had a full-time chief since Trump's return to office on January 20, 2025
Politico
17:25
As part of its Reality Labs cuts, Meta is closing three VR gaming studios and will stop developing new content and features for its VR fitness app Supernatural
The Verge
17:20
Sources: AI chipmaker Cerebras is in talks to raise ~$1B, valuing the startup at $22B before the new investment, up from an $8.1B valuation in September 2025
The Information
17:05
The US gives a formal green light to sales of Nvidia's H200 chips to China, which cannot receive more than 50% of the total amount of chips sold to US customers
Reuters
16:50
Polygon buys crypto startups Coinme and Sequence for a total of $250M+, as it seeks to bolster its stablecoin and fintech infrastructure and compete with Stripe
Fortune
16:30
Sources: Amazon is seeking supplier discounts, from low single digits to 30%, as it moves to reverse concessions made to limit the shock of Trump's tariffs
Financial Times
16:23
Sources: AI chip startup Etched raised $500M led by Stripes at a $5B valuation, bringing its total funding to almost $1B
Bloomberg
15:45
Anthropic shakes up its C-suite: CPO Mike Krieger will become the co-lead of its Labs incubator, and Head of Product Ami Vora will take over Krieger's duties
The Verge
15:10
Roblox's AI-based age verification system, which uses Persona tech and expanded globally last week, faces player and developer criticism for misidentifying ages
Wired
13:50
Mercedes pauses the rollout of Drive Pilot, a Level 3 “eyes off” driving feature available in Europe and the US, citing low demand and high production costs
The Verge
13:25
The US Senate passes the Defiance Act that would let victims sue over nonconsensual, sexually explicit AI-generated images, amid furor over Grok images on X
Bloomberg
13:15
The US FCC waives a rule that forced Verizon to unlock phones 60 days after they are activated, which could make it harder for people to switch from Verizon
Ars Technica
13:05
Taiwan issues an arrest warrant for OnePlus CEO Pete Lau for allegedly illegally hiring 70+ Taiwanese engineers, as it tries to stop China from raiding workers
Bloomberg
12:45
A look at Confer, an open-source AI assistant project from Signal creator Moxie Marlinspike that is designed to provide end-to-end encryption for AI chats
Ars Technica
12:10
Google makes improvements to Veo 3.1's Ingredients to Video feature to make videos “more expressive”, and adds native vertical video generation and 4K upscaling
The Verge
11:45
Sources: India asked quick commerce companies to drop their 10-minute delivery promise due to concerns about rider safety; Blinkit already removed the assurance
Bloomberg
11:35
Sources: China has told some tech companies that it would only approve Nvidia H200 chip purchases under special circumstances, such as for university research
The Information
11:20
Flip, which offers an Alexa-like voice AI experience for businesses, raised a $20M Series A, bringing its total funding to $31M
Crunchbase News
11:10
Governor Gavin Newsom says he has been negotiating for four months to neutralize California's wealth tax ballot proposal; a compromise does not appear imminent
Politico
11:05
Onebrief, which makes AI-powered military workflow software, raised a $200M Series D, nearly doubling its valuation from $1.1B to $2.1B in about half of a year
Axios
11:00
CrowdStrike acquires Israel-based browser security startup Seraphic, a source says for ~$400M; Seraphic was founded in 2020, employs 50+, and had raised ~$37M
CTech
10:35
Austin-based webAI, which is building AI models that run locally on devices, raised “high double-digit” millions in a Series A at a $2.5B pre-money valuation
Axios
10:00
Sources: CoinGecko, a prominent crypto market data and analytics company, is seeking a potential sale for ~$500M, after starting the sales process in late 2025
CoinDesk
09:53
Sources: Meta and EssilorLuxottica are discussing potentially doubling Ray-Ban Meta production capacity to 20M+ units by the end of 2026 or even as high as 30M+
Bloomberg
09:45
Sources: carmakers have found a workaround for chip shortages amid Nexperia's internal battle, buying wafers from its Dutch arm and then shipping them to China
Financial Times
09:31
Apple unveils Apple Creator Studio, a “groundbreaking collection” of creative apps like Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, and Pixelmator Pro for $13/month or $129/year
9to5Mac
09:16
Meta confirms it is laying off Reality Labs staff and will “reinvest the savings” in wearables; CTO Andrew Bosworth says 1,000+ staff will be notified Tuesday
Bloomberg
09:10
Latin American VC funding rose 14.3% YoY in 2025 to $4.1B, with early-stage investment up 31.9% YoY to nearly $2B and late-stage and growth deals hitting $1.63B
Crunchbase News
09:01
Deepgram, which is building enterprise voice recognition AI tech, raised a $130M Series C led by AVP at a $1.3B valuation, taking its total funding to $215M+
TechCrunch
08:45
Microsoft changes its data center approach, pledging to pay its own power costs, reject tax breaks, and replenish more water than it uses, amid local opposition
GeekWire
08:20
Crypto scams received $14B+ on-chain in 2025, up from 2024's $12B, and could exceed $17B as more illicit wallets are found; impersonation scams jumped 1,400%
Chainalysis
08:10
Salesforce makes Slack's new AI-powered Slackbot generally available, helping users answer workflow questions, draft documents, schedule meetings, and more
ZDNET
07:55
Netflix CTO Elizabeth Stone and other execs discuss the challenges Netflix faces in streaming live events; it has broadcasted 200+ live events since March 2023
Wall Street Journal
07:40
IDC: global PC shipments rose 9.6% YoY to 76.4M units in Q4 2025, helped by Microsoft ending Windows 10 support and OEMs pulling forward inventory amid tariffs
The Verge
07:30
Boston- and Tel Aviv-based Converge Bio, which uses AI trained on molecular data to help pharma and biotech companies develop drugs, raised a $25M Series A
TechCrunch
07:15
NYC-based Proxima, which uses AI to design drugs that control protein interactions, raised an $80M seed led by DCVC; Nvidia, Roivant, and Braidwell invested too
Bloomberg
07:00
Sources: OpenAI plans a 60-second Super Bowl ad during NBC's broadcast, the second straight year of doing so; ad buyers say some clients pay $8M+ for 30 seconds
Wall Street Journal
06:45
Interviews with Spotify co-founder Daniel Ek, on his CEO exit, and new co-CEOs Gustav Söderström and Alex Norström, who face algorithm fatigue and angry artists
Bloomberg
06:35
Warhammer maker Games Workshop says it banned its staff from using AI in its content or designs and “will be maintaining a strong commitment to protect” its IP
Financial Times
06:20
Sources: Google will start developing and making high-end Pixel phones like the Pro and Fold from scratch in Vietnam in 2026; the Pixel A will remain in China
Nikkei Asia
06:05
A profile of Eric Migicovsky's Core Devices, a five-person company that he says is “not a startup” and aims to be “sustainable”, as it builds new Pebble devices
TechCrunch
05:55
PJM, the nonprofit operator for a 13-state US power grid, expects power demand to grow 4.8% per year on average over the next decade, driven by the AI boom
Wall Street Journal
05:40
The US House passes a bipartisan bill that expands export controls to restrict Chinese companies' remote access to US AI chips from data centers outside China
The Information
03:45
Researchers at OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and elsewhere are studying LLMs as if they were living things, not just software, to uncover some of their secrets
MIT Technology Review
02:25
A look at WhatsApp's massive global reach and influence, and how the messaging app became a core technology relied on by governments and extended families alike
New Yorker
01:20
Microsoft warns that Chinese companies, especially DeepSeek, are winning AI user adoption outside the West, gaining significant market share in the Global South
Financial Times
00:50
The NYC token, launched by former New York City Mayor Eric Adams on January 12, saw its market cap drop from ~$600M to ~$110M, after USDC liquidity manipulation
Decrypt
00:45
Sources: Balderton cashed out ~$2B of its Revolut stake in the past year, turning an early £1M bet into a historic European VC win; its fifth fund returned 25x+
Financial Times
Montag, 12. Januar 2026
23:00
Chinese chipmaker GigaDevice's stock rose 54% in its Hong Kong debut after raising ~$600M in its IPO, and reported H1 2025 profit of ~$84M, up 14% from H2 2024
Bloomberg
22:35
Nvidia denies requiring Chinese customers to pay upfront for its H200 chips, saying it “would never require customers to pay for products they do not receive”
Reuters
21:40
A late-November 2025 amendment to California's wealth tax proposal treats founder control as ownership, which could end founder-controlled startups in the state
Pirate Wires
20:25
SK Hynix says it will invest ~$12.9B to build an advanced chip packaging plant in South Korea to meet rising memory chip demand, set to open by the end of 2027
Reuters
19:50
Trump says that Microsoft will “ensure” Americans don't have higher power bills due to data centers and Big Tech must “pay their own way” for their data centers
Business Insider
18:05
Personal finance app Betterment says an individual accessed a third-party system to send a fake crypto scam message and believes they accessed customer info
Bloomberg
17:15
Claude Cowork hands-on: a general agent well positioned to bring Claude Code's powerful capabilities to a wider audience, but prompt injection risks remain
Simon Willison's Weblog
17:00
Bakkt agrees to acquire Distributed Technologies Research, the stablecoin infrastructure startup founded by Bakkt CEO Akshay Naheta; BKKT closed up 18.69%
The Block
16:05
OpenAI acquires Torch, a one-year-old AI health care app that analyzes medical records and advises on health; a source that OpenAI is paying ~$100M in equity
The Information
16:00
Elon Musk says Apple and Google's Gemini deal “seems like an unreasonable concentration of power for Google, given that [they] also have Android and Chrome”
MacRumors
15:42
Sources: Meta plans to lay off ~10% of its 15,000-employee Reality Labs division, disproportionately affecting those working on VR headsets and Horizon Worlds
New York Times
15:00
Anthropic debuts Cowork for Claude, built on Claude Code, for automating complex tasks with minimal prompting, as a research preview for Claude Max subscribers
ZDNET
13:25
Italy's antitrust authority says it reduced the record fine imposed on Amazon in 2021, from €1.13B to €752M, after a recalculation
Reuters
13:20
Mark Zuckerberg says Meta is establishing Meta Compute, a top-level initiative to build “tens of gigawatts” of AI infrastructure this decade and hundreds later
Axios
12:45
The UK plans to bring into force a law this week that will make it illegal to create non-consensual intimate images, as Ofcom investigates X over Grok's images
BBC
12:35
Sources: the US nears a trade deal with Taiwan that would reduce tariffs on the island's exports and include a TSMC commitment to build 5+ more fabs in Arizona
New York Times
12:10
Apple and Google say Apple Foundation Models based on Gemini will help power not only a more personalized Siri, but also “future Apple Intelligence features”
MacRumors
11:35
World Liberty Financial launches World Liberty Markets, letting users lend and borrow digital assets among one another, supporting its own token USD1 and others
Bloomberg
10:50
Document: Meta said last week that it would exclude Italy from its ban on rival AI chatbots on WhatsApp, after an order from the country's antitrust authority
Reuters
10:48
Alphabet hits a $4T market cap, becoming the fourth Big Tech company to reach the milestone, after its stock has risen 6%+ in the past month
Financial Times
10:40
Researchers from Nvidia, Microsoft, and others develop AI models, trained on 1M+ species' data, to generate potential new gene editing and drug therapies
Financial Times
10:24
Apple signs a multiyear Google deal to use Gemini models to power a more personalized Siri in 2026, saying Google's tech “provides the most capable foundation”
CNBC
10:15
Nvidia and Eli Lilly say they will invest $1B over five years in a new Silicon Valley-based AI drug lab, aiming to speed up the pharmaceutical industry's AI use
Bloomberg
10:05
A viral Chinese app called “Are You Dead?” that asks users living alone to “check in” with a button press becomes the top paid app in Apple's App Store in China
Financial Times
09:35
Crypto custody startup BitGo aims to raise up to $201M in its IPO on the NYSE at an up to $1.96B valuation, selling 11.8M shares priced between $15 and $17 each
Reuters
09:15
Eddy Cue says 2025 was a “record-breaking year” for Apple services: December was a monthly TV engagement record, the App Store has 850M+ weekly users, and more
The Hollywood Reporter
09:00
Michael Saylor's Strategy bought 13,627 bitcoin for ~$1.25B between January 5 and 11, taking its total holdings to 687,410, and boosts its USD reserve to $2.25B
The Block
08:50
Meta appoints Dina Powell McCormick, a prominent banking executive and former Republican official, as president and vice chair, reporting to Mark Zuckerberg
Axios
08:25
Ampere Analysis expects streaming services' content spend to grow 6% in 2026 to $101B, crossing $100B for the first time, and overall content spend to grow 2%
Deadline
06:35
Ofcom opens an investigation under the OSA into Grok over the sexualized deepfakes of women and kids being generated on X and threatens X with a ban or a fine
Financial Times
06:25
Global smartphone shipments rose 2% YoY in 2025; Apple led with 20% market share and 10% YoY growth, followed by Samsung's 19% market share and 5% YoY growth
Counterpoint Research
06:05
Paris-based autonomous drone maker Harmattan AI raised a $200M Series B led by Dassault at a $1.4B valuation, and aims to produce 10K drones per month in 2026
Bloomberg
05:55
Sources and filings: Peter Thiel donated $3M to a group to beat California's wealth tax proposal, the first of several expected tech leader donations in 2026
New York Times
05:40
Meta says it shut down nearly 550K accounts in Australia to comply with its under-16 social media ban, including 330,639 Instagram and 173,497 Facebook accounts
Bloomberg
05:05
CES 2026 report: AI, autonomy, and robotic products are still finding their way, country-level booths are growing, Nvidia underpinned much of the show, and more
Hardcore Software
04:45
A look at claims from Google, HSBC, and others about quantum computing breakthroughs over the past few months that helped boost quantum computing stocks in 2025
Financial Times
04:10
Investigation: Google removed AI Overviews for two liver health queries after experts warned of “alarming” results, but slight tweaks still trigger AI responses
The Guardian
03:50
CES 2026: how some companies are trying to make their AI products cute and relatable, from Lenovo's chatty motorized laptop to Sharp's ChatGPT-powered Poketomo
Washington Post
01:40
President Trump says “we may speak to Elon” about using Starlink to restore the internet in Iran, which has blocked the internet since January 8 amid protests
Reuters
01:05
A profile of China's memory chipmaker CXMT, whose $4.2B IPO goal would rank among the century's biggest by a chipmaker, as it faces US and South Korean curbs
Wall Street Journal
00:25
Chinese AI executives say China is unlikely to eclipse the US in the AI race anytime soon, citing limited resources and US chip export curbs as key constraints
Bloomberg
Sonntag, 11. Januar 2026
23:45
Naver, the largest South Korean buyer of Nvidia chips, is pitching its AI cloud services as an alternative for countries reluctant to use US or Chinese systems
Financial Times
22:20
Despite dire projections of PC and phone memory shortages, producers like Micron will proceed cautiously in adding new capacity, ever mindful of past downcycles
Wall Street Journal
21:15
The US says Qatar and the UAE will join Pax Silica on January 12 and January 15, respectively, expanding the US-led program to secure AI and chip supply chains
Reuters